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Evangelism on the Web


The Casual Christian is an online publication designed to present the gospel to the un-churched and build community within the body of Christ by bringing the truth of God to bear on contemporary issues and interests. It employs a number of tools designed to maximize personal contact through the ‘pull’ capabilities of the Internet (i.e. drawing the reader in by appealing to his interests rather than pushing a message out), thus developing deep, personal connections with readers. The format is a quarterly electronic newsletter that employs the following features, among others:

 Interview
(Going God’s Way)
A question and answer session with a member of the church who has an interesting story to tell about God’s work in his/her life. This may be the leader of some ministry, a new member who has just joined the congregation, someone who experienced God’s saving or sanctifying grace in some way, etc. This should always be the first page and contain a photograph because it will give a personal ‘face’ to the church, making it more appealing to those unfamiliar with the church.

Gospel Presentation
(Now Try God)
There are a number of gospel presentations available online and these will be rotated. They should present the gospel in clear, understandable language with no religious jargon and preferably provide the ability to make direct contact with the enquirer. Examples:


Issues and Answers
(Does God Really Love You?)
This feature will draw primarily on material from TroubledWith.com by Focus on the Family, Crosswalk Channels by Campus Crusade for Christ, and specialty sites for men, women and select interest groups by Truthmedia.com. A provocative question related to some difficult issue will be linked to the corresponding counseling piece online. Another excellent online resource for answers to common objections to the faith is All About God. This web site is devoted exclusively to apologetics, i.e. reasoned arguments for the truth of the Bible. If you would like to provide your readers the opportunity to send personalized messages on some of these same subjects to others, you can get E-tracts from the American Bible Society.

Movie Reviews
Focus on the Family produces a newsletter called Plugged In that reviews movies from a Christian perspective. Campus Crusade has a Movie Review feature on their Crosswalk site. Including a link to this site in your newsletter would give church members the ability to send reviews on popular movies to their non-believing friends and perhaps get them interested in some of the other features of your newsletter at the same time.

Daily Dose
(of Humor and Inspiration)
This section features humorous stories, video clips, and audio clips from Pastor Tim's Clean Laughs, an affiliate of Campus Crusade's Crosswalk.com, and inspirational and motivational materials from eThought.com. A free subscription to Crosswalk.com comes with a regular newsletter featuring the latest additions to Pastor Tim's archives. This feature adds an entertaining element to the newsletter that keeps drawing readers back for more. Many folks exchange humorous and inspirational emails among themselves. These can also be converted to web pages very easily and added to the Daily Dose archives permitted they do not conflict with the purpose of the newsletter to build community and share the Good News.

Ask The Pastor
This piece will feature an answer from the Pastor to a question posed by either a member of the congregation or other newsletter reader. It will focus on some issue related to contemporary culture, moral or social concerns, the Christian faith, some difficult portion of scripture, or perhaps some personal struggle. Readers will have freedom to submit whatever question they like and the Pastor will choose the one he feels is most relevant, difficult, or frequently experienced. The answers should bring scriptural teaching to bear on commonly experienced issues using plain speech comprehensible to someone with no church background. See Ask Ron for an example.

Family Forum
This is a bulletin board that will provide networking opportunities for readers for the purpose of providing mutual assistance, encouragement and even practical tips. It will be pretty much wide open as far as topics are concerned so long as the purpose is constructive. The hope is that readers will converse not just with other members of the congregation, but guests who have read the newsletter and so begin a conversation that may lead to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Another hope is that needs will be revealed that would not otherwise be uncovered and others will lend a hand, provide referrals or even form new ministries if the need is large enough. Provided by Groupsite.com.

Training
The Internet Evangelism Coalition publishes a free newsletter containing articles on how to do online evangelism in a contemporary, relevant fashion. Not only do you get good advice, but IEC will help provide resources that will make your newsletter interesting, provocative and compelling. For examples, see Reaching Out and Tell Your Story from the Sample Newsletter.

Truth Media has a variety of training videos for doing web evangelism, a number of chat rooms for talking about important life issues, and several bridge sites that present answers to life’s challenges from a Christian perspective.

Other Resources:

Tell Your Story
Readers will be able to submit articles here. These will include items designed to reach out to unsaved friends and neighbors such as personal testimonies written in plain language (no church-speak), book reviews or movie reviews that provide a Christian perspective on some aspect of contemporary culture, or, depending on how creative the reader, perhaps even a poem or short story that reflects on God’s character as revealed in everyday experiences. They will also be able to submit questions for Ask the Pastor.

Mini Polls
One question polls with yes/no answers on issues pertaining to how seekers perceive Christians and Christianity and how believers practice their faith. Available from Bravenet.com.

Sample Mini Polls for Believers


• Can you point to a time when you committed your life to Christ?
• Has God ever answered your prayer in a demonstrable way?
• Have you ever questioned God’s love for you?
• Have you ever doubted God’s power to provide for and protect you?
• Have you ever doubted the authenticity of your relationship to God?
• Is prayer a regular part of your daily routine?
• Is Bible study a regular part of your daily routine?
• Have you ever sought the advice of other believers before making an important decision?
• Do you ever associate with church folks outside of regular church functions?
• Do you feel you can turn to the church when the chips are down?
 

Sample Mini Polls for Seekers


• Do you ever talk to God?
• Do you believe God answers prayer?
• Do you believe God loves you?
• Do you believe God has a special purpose for your life?
• Do you believe it is possible to know God personally?
• Did you know you can be part of God’s family?
• Do you know how to become part of God’s family?
• Do you believe God created the world?

 
Questions and Comments:
More extensive questionnaires that seek to determine the level of spiritual understanding of readers and how to connect with them better on a personal level, get their input on how to make ministry more effective, or get a consensus of feeling on important decisions. Available on.

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